who are Metronomy at the moment and what's the best thing about each of you?
That's a good question, Metronomy at the moment is me Jo, Joseph Mount, Gabriel Stebbing, and Oscar Cash. The best thing about Oscar is that he looks constantly fantastic, he's got an amazing fashion sense. Gabriel's a tricky one, the best thing about Gabriel is he's a competent musician, except for last night in Cambridge, where he was absolutely awful. The best thing about me is that I finance them both.
You said you were playing last night are you on the road at the moment?
No, were not, we just had a one off in Cambridge last night, but we finished the tour about a week ago.
Where are you based?
Well until in the van yesterday, I didn't have a place, but I'm in London at the moment, I was almost going to move to Nottingham but I decided against it.
Describe Metronomy's sound for those who have never heard it.
No, not very well, it's kind of electronic music but with a bit more of a guitary twist. The description I've heard was someone wrote about us, said it it was like a garage band playing electro. I think it's got the spirit of a guitary band but the wrong instruments.
Are you musically trained, what instruments can you play?
To varying degrees, I was taught how to play the drums and then I taught myself how to play the other stuff. I can only really play the drums, but I can get what I want out of drums and keyboard.
Are you considering playing drums live?
I used to play in a lot of guitar bands when I was younger, but it was a pain in the arse carrying a drum kit around, to be perfectly honest. It's a lot easier without it, but if we suddenly make lots of money and can afford someone to carry our equipment, I might get a drum kit, we'll see.
Where can we see you this summer?
At the moment we've just got a few festival dates coming through like Bestival, we're doing Benicassim as well, we've not done it before but we keep hearing stories of people dying from dehydration. People get completely wrecked at night fall asleep in their tents and die in the heat. I don't know if we're allowed to mention the rest but hopefully Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds, and the standards.
You've played Reading before didn't you?
We did last year, it was amazing, it was really good. You know Glastonbury has changed over the years but Reading has always kept it's edginess. The last time I went to Glastonbury was in 1999. I went for a couple of years in a row, the last time I went I climbed in and then felt it was my fault it was cancelled the next year, because people were climbing in. Reading always feels like a good no messing festival. Reading is the most enjoyable festival we've done, I think, it the same for every band that the whole of festival season is a very enjoyable time. Spending all your time outdoors, bumping into familiar faces but Reading made us feel we'd reached a certain level, you're getting a good reaction to your music.
What's the best gig you've been to?
When I was younger I saw Radiohead at the Plymouth Pavilions when 'OK Computer' came out and before it launched them really massive. I saw The Shins in Brighton at the Concorde and it would be too small for them now. I'm not making a point of saying I like to see gigs before bands are famous. Once a gig size is beyond 300 then the chances of getting close to the front get slimmer. Small gigs are a lot more intimate and energetic. We've played quite a lot with The Klaxons, we played a gig with them in Bath and that was a very good little gig there.
Who are your musical heroes?
I'm a very big fan of Devo and David Bowie, people like Prince and Kate Bush who do everything themselves, and Talking Heads and Wilco.
Once you're famous who would you like to have a support acts?
We've done a lot of support gigs ourselves and it's quite nice when you get the bigger bands helping out the smaller bands. There's a band that's on the up at the moment called The XX, not to be confused wiith XX Teens. They're like Portishead, down-tempo but the girl has got a beautiful voice, she sounds Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl and she even looks a bit like her, but they're a really good band. We also played a gig recently with a group in Liverpool called Indica Ritual, they're also very good. I don't know it'll all change by the time we become very big, that's a few years off yet.
When is your album due?
Yes we have it's called 'Nights Out' and it's due out around May.
What about you what music do you have out to listen to?
We have a new single out, 'My Heart Rate Rapid' due out on the 31st March.
You've done a lot of remixing, how do you get to do them?
It kind of changes as you go along. Initially you just ask and do them on spec so they don't tell you unless they use it kind of thing. You just kind of ask, well originally it would be my manager just asking people if I could have a go at mixing them. Then that kind of went well for me, and now people just ask me to do it. But there's a still a lot of mixes that don't get use. You spend quite a while doing them and they get turned down by the label or the artist or whatever.
Which remixes are you most proud of?
The one I like the most is the one I did for 'Box Codax', it's the guitarist from Franz Ferdinand, Nick McCarthy his side project it's really good actually, him and this German guy and his wife. It's the kind of mix I like listening to that I've done. I've also done a new 'One Nation' which is a Goldfrapp remix, which has got a guy, Michael from The Teenagers guest appearing in it. I've kind of hijacked the whole song. That makes for quite a nice listen, and it's all about Nottingham actually, well it's a guy speaking in French, a French monologue but it's all about Nottingham.
How do you think myspace has changed the music scene?
Yeah, you could in a way say we grew out of it yeah. I think the time of it being a kind of space to come out of. There were the bands and acts that came out of it and you could say they were a myspace phenomenon. But as far as me using it I think the best thing about it is that it's used all over the world. And it's amazing getting messages from all over the world. And you get kids leaving messages from Latvia, Brazil and India who have listened to your music. I think it's brilliant that people from all over the world having access to the same music. I think it does mean bands don't need to have websites now they can just set up myspace. I think the main surge has happened. I think what it's best for is that you can sit down and wile away a few hours listening to stuff that you've ever heard of before. But it's got to the point where bands think it's a way for them to get big and you just get bands spamming you, and that's not the point you don't want it to be forced down your throat. But on a certain level it will still be as good, people just getting on with it and setting up music, they're the ones who will end up benefiting from it I think. You've just got to avoid the people who want to listen to their music.
That's good advice, thanks very much. Have a good summer.
Cheers and you.
article by: Scott Williams
published: 19/03/2008 14:34
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